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Some members quit as Stonewall
Democrats stand by Stringer
BY MATT TRACY
Several members of the Stonewall
Democratic Club of New York City
quit in disgust after the club voted to
uphold its endorsement of mayoral candidate
Scott Stringer.
The club held an emergency vote on May
5 to ask members whether they wanted to
pull the endorsement of Stringer in the face
of sexual misconduct allegations. In order
to rescind the endorsement, however, the
club needed two-thirds of its members to
agree — and that didn’t happen.
“It was a very close vote, with one vote
making the difference, and I know that
many are disappointed in the result,” the
club, led by president Rose Christ, said in
a written statement on May 6.
Brian Romero, who previously served
as the club’s president, swiftly announced
his departure from the club minutes after
the club announced the results of the vote.
“I resign as Exec VP of @SDNYC,”
Romero said in a tweet. “I began my activism
in LGBT rights over 10 years ago for
equity and justice. I believe survivors. I
believe women. I won’t enable the upholding
of white cispatriarchy which harms so
many each day. Jean, myself, and others like
us deserve better.”
Others who left the club included
District Leader John Blasco of Manhattan,
City Council candidate Chris Sosa, and
attorney Alejandra Caraballo, who, along
with Romero, are all backing the mayoral
campaign of Dianne Morales.
“This decision is infuriating and it moves
us back in the work that many have done
for justice,” Blasco, who formerly served as
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson’s LGBTQ
liaison, wrote on Twitter. “Survivors
FLICKR/ CITY COMPTROLLER SCOTT STRINGER
have led us along the way time and time
again. The stories of POC survivors are
often not believed — especially by white
men, including those who are gay. I sat in
this virtual meeting and watched as some
members wrote harmful rhetoric in the
chat. But unfortunately I did not expect
anything less than that. With that being
said and this decision — I will be resigning
as a member of Stonewall.”
In a phone interview with Gay City
News, Caraballo voiced displeasure with
what she has witnessed during her experience
with Stonewall as well as with
the Lambda Independent Democrats of
Brooklyn (LID). She said she also recently
left LID.
“I think part of it is just a general continued
frustration with Stonewall, but prior to
even this, I’ve been frustrated with political
clubs like Lambda and Stonewall because
they continue to be out of step with younger
and more diverse members of the LGBTQ
community,” said Caraballo, a former City
Council candidate in Brooklyn’s District
35, which includes Fort Greene, Clinton
Hill, Crown Heights, Prospect Heights,
and Bedford Stuyvesant. “They tend to be
dominated by older gay white men who are
wealthy.”
Caraballo cited an example of a longtime
Stonewall board member who posted on
social media defending Stringer and questioning
Kim, who alleged that Stringer
groped her two decades ago during his bid
for public advocate.
Moreover, Caraballo said the clubs fail
to refl ect the diversity of the city’s LGBTQ
community.
The Lambda Independent Dems also
voted May 6 to rescind their endorsement
of Stringer, and backed Morales.
Big endorsements for Stringer and Shimamura
District Council 9 IUPAT
painters endorses
Stringer
District Council 9 IUPAT Painters
and Allied Trades endorsed City
Comptroller Scott Stringer for
Mayor of New York City.
“Stringer’s commitment to fi xing
the City’s crumbling infrastructure
will uplift the working class and put
our members to work on 21st-century
projects at a time when our City needs it
most,” said Davon Lomax, Political Director
of District Council 9. “Stringer’s
commitment to fi xing the City’s crumbling
infrastructure will uplift the
working class and put our members
to work on 21st-century projects at a
time when our City needs it most. Scott
Stringer was a fi ghter for our brothers
and sisters in labor when he served as
New York City’s Comptroller, and I am
confi dent he will stand by our side as
our Mayor.”
District Council 9 represents more
than 11,000 painters, decorators, wall
coverers, and other working New Yorkers.
Stringer was also recently endorsed
by Teamsters local 237.
Shimamura gets nod
from Met Council
Action
Tricia Shimamura, candidate for
District 5 on the City Council,
received a fi rst rank endorsement
from Met Council Action. Met Council
Action is the second major housing group
to endorse Shimamura, joining Tenants
PAC. It is part of their fi rst set of endorsements
in over a decade.
“Our fi rst choice, Tricia Shimamura,
will be the fi rst City Council Member
of Japanese descent,” said Ava Farkas,
Executive Director of Met Council Action.
“For too long, many members of
our City Council have served real estate
interests, approving disastrous rezonings
while barely enforcing tenant protections.
With these endorsements, we are joining
our allies in the housing justice movement
to show our fellow tenants which
candidates will fi ght for them, not for
their landlords.”
If elected, she would be the first
Japanese-American elected to any offi ce
in New York.
Compiled
by Ariel Pacheco
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